JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — As the town council awaits the results of a comprehensive study that will tell them how much more they will have to pay their employees to keep them from quitting and defecting to the county, electeds took the tentative step toward a peace offering: a bare minimum boost of 2.5% and a one-time $1,000 net bonus for all fulltime 2021 staff.
Town manager Larry Pardee spurred the pay raise discussion ahead of the study with a heartfelt email to councilmembers sharing the hardship staff was working under, especially during COVID. Elected officials agreed, boosting pay in the middle of FY22 would be appropriate. Council voted themselves a pay raise back in April 2020.
“We are all in this together and it is a struggle. It is real,” Pardee shared at Monday’s council meeting.
Pay raise or bonus?
As the council debated a pay increase, some councilmembers wanted more, including Jessica Sell Chambers. Some wanted to keep it small and simple to start until the study was finished.
Councilman Jonathan Schechter found middle ground by offering a bonus of $1,000 (net after taxes) to every fulltime employee who worked the entire 2021 calendar year, and $750 for others who did not meet that criteria. This, in addition to a 2.5% bump to start.
Schechter, a local economist, pointed to sales tax revenue pouring in $3,000,000 ahead of projections. Schechter’s bonuses would represent an estimated 5% of this ‘windfall,’ or about $170,000 total for some 130 total employees or so.
Councilman Jim Rooks voted for the bonus, as did the entire council, but leaned toward salaries as making the more impactful statement.
“I like the idea of giving people predictability in future years. This [pay raise] comes midway through the year so it has the flavor of a bonus but it’s even better because it would roll over as well,” Rooks said.
Sell Chambers worried 2.5% would not be enough to retain valued employees that have already jumped ship to the county—especially in law enforcement where several JPD officers have pinned on a Sheriff’s deputy badge—or just quit.
“I’m concerned if we don’t do more now we could lose more staff. 2.5% is the bare minimum compared to 24% increase some county employees received,” Sell Chambers said. “Money isn’t everything, but money speaks.Employees appreciate actual income. If we are going to have to pony up eventually, why not just do it now?”
Pardee answered the 2.5% metric was, indeed, a minimum and a start. But, calling himself a person driven by data, he preferred waiting on the comprehensive study to be completed before decision-making.
Councilman Arne Jorgensen’s only heartburn with a raise and a bonus was a fear of creating a false impression the town was suddenly flush.
“The $3 million in sales tax revenue; it is a windfall as in we didn’t expect it, but I think it diminishes the seriousness of putting forward the picture an unsustainable financial picture,” Jorgensen said.
Translation from government speak: ‘We need to continue to appear bad off and needy so we can get new taxes and rate hikes pushed through in the future.’
Sell Chambers didn’t feel the increase in sales tax revenue far beyond projections was a one-time pot of gold.
“Revenues are not going to disappear, they are only going to increase. This place has become a very desirable destination,” she said.
Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson called the pay raise “thank you for all the hard work staff has done over the past year,” and said she was looking forward to a continued conversation on more pay hikes.
Both the pay raise and the one-time bonus passed unanimously.
